Results (Please Vote with Monthly Tickets and Follow-up Reading to Push This onto the New Book Rankings!)

Results (Please Vote with Monthly Tickets and Follow-up Reading to Push This onto the New Book Rankings!) Inside the room, as the flames scorched the furnace, the Spirit Patterns on the pill furnace began to emerge one by one, glowing crimson as well.

Before long, they covered the entire pill furnace.

Ye Jingcheng let out a long breath. The furnace warming was complete—and exceptionally smooth!

He raised his hand, and the Crimson Flame Fox withdrew its flames as well.

The incense burning beside them had only burned through a little over half. Wisps of green smoke drifted toward the ceiling before vanishing without a trace.

"This is a third faster than the Earth Fire Room!" After calculating the time, Ye Jingcheng could not help feeling excited.

Unlike the fire temperature in the Earth Fire Room, which required a cultivator to control with hand seals, using the Crimson Flame Fox now only required sending it a thought through their Soul Contract.

The Crimson Flame Fox's perception of fire was far better than his own.

Ye Jingcheng placed a hand over the Spirit Pattern atop the Crimson Flame Fox's head and felt a warm current pass into his palm.

The Crimson Flame Fox could not help narrowing its eyes, letting out a soft chirp.

Meanwhile, Ye Jingcheng began channeling the Treasure Book's spiritual radiance.

That was right. Over the past year, he had discovered that the Treasure Book's spiritual radiance could also restore a Spirit Beast's spiritual power.

Sensing the Treasure Light Ye Jingcheng sent over, the Crimson Flame Fox could not resist lying down. Its eyelids drooped, its entire body red as blazing fire. At that moment, the Spirit Pattern on its forehead became increasingly distinct.

Only after about Five Breaths did Ye Jingcheng stop channeling the Treasure Light.

A mere furnace warming naturally could not earn too great a reward.

The Crimson Flame Fox chirped twice, clearly still wanting more! Ye Jingcheng patted its head, then took out the Spirit Herbs for Qi Blood Pills.

But after hesitating for a moment, he swapped the Spirit Herbs for those of Spirit Feeding Pills before beginning the refinement.

As though it sensed that the Spirit Feeding Pills were also its food, the Crimson Flame Fox's flame-breathing became increasingly skillful and steady! Before long, a fragrant pill aroma wafted out, and there were once again ten Spirit Feeding Pills in the furnace—a full batch! Every one of them gleamed with spiritual light, round and plump.

Ye Jingcheng directly took out two of the ten and placed them into the Crimson Flame Fox's mouth as a reward.

Before eating the spirit pills, the Crimson Flame Fox licked Ye Jingcheng's hand with its tongue. Only after seeing Ye Jingcheng smile faintly did it begin crunching the Spirit Feeding Pills in satisfaction.

Ye Jingcheng, meanwhile, began reviewing the Crimson Flame Fox's pill refinement.

He found that when the Crimson Flame Fox refined spirit pills, the success rate was higher, and the quality of the pills was better as well.

"No wonder Foundation Building Cultivators learn pill refinement much faster than Qi Refinement cultivators!" Ye Jingcheng could not help recalling the Spirit Platform Fire possessed by Foundation Building Cultivators, as recorded in certain books.

His hearts and minds were linked with the Crimson Flame Fox, making it somewhat similar to Spirit Platform Fire.

The only thing to note was that even refining First-Order Grade-Low Spirit Feeding Pills consumed nearly half of the Crimson Flame Fox's spiritual power.

Fortunately, the Treasure Book could replenish it, and the Crimson Flame Fox could also recover spiritual power on its own.

Ye Jingcheng began wiping down the pill furnace and warming it again. This time, he solemnly took out the ingredients for the Qi Blood Pills.

Warm the furnace, melt the herbs! Crimson flames roasted the room until it seemed to glow red. If not for the isolating effect of the Spirit Barrier Formation, the room would likely have caught fire.

As the furnace spun at high speed, the Crimson Flame Fox's eyes began to droop, and its fur no longer shone as brightly as before.

"Little Flame, hold on a little longer!"

Ye Jingcheng encouraged it.

At last, as spiritual light spilled out within the pill furnace, Ye Jingcheng formed a hand seal. The pill furnace flew out and landed before him.

The Crimson Flame Fox hurriedly withdrew its flames as well, chirping twice. Its voice sounded somewhat hoarse now as it paced back and forth beside Ye Jingcheng, staring at him with eager anticipation.

Yet Ye Jingcheng did not look at the Crimson Flame Fox at that moment. Instead, he gazed expectantly at the Qi Blood Pills.

Inside lay two red pill pellets, resting quietly within.

"It worked!"

Success on the first try!

Ye Jingcheng was immensely excited. Although Qi Blood Pills were similar to Body Tempering Pills and roughly equally difficult to refine, this was still worth celebrating.

Ye Jingcheng once more channeled Treasure Light into the Crimson Flame Fox, but it merely continued chirping hoarsely.

Only when Ye Jingcheng handed it three bowls of Spring Water did it become utterly satisfied. It was obvious that after breathing so much fire, its throat had become somewhat parched.

After reviewing the process once more, Ye Jingcheng sat down to cultivate and restore his spiritual energy, while the Crimson Flame Fox lay beside him.

Within the room, man and beast both glowed faintly red, creating an exceptionally harmonious sight.

The days of pill refinement passed quickly. On the tenth day, Ye Jingcheng raised his hand and opened the furnace once more. Inside, there were no fewer than seven Qi Blood Pills.

He refined an average of two batches a day. Excluding the first day's Spirit Feeding Pills, he had refined nineteen batches in all, though four batches had still failed.

Ye Xinghe gathered the four of them once again, seating them around a table.

Unlike before, Ye Xinghe was no longer anxious. This time, his gaze repeatedly drifted toward Ye Jingcheng.

It seemed he had even greater expectations for him, and Ye Jingcheng felt that Ye Xinghe might have already found another way to deal with the situation.

Otherwise, he could never be so composed.

"There are still two ten-day periods until the Full Moon Period. Let's each report our progress!" Ye Xinghe suggested.

"Over these ten days, I only opened eight furnaces and refined twenty Qi Blood Pills!" Ye Jingyun was the first to speak.

The Qi Blood Pill was a First-Order Grade-Middle spirit pill. He could feel that he had improved greatly, yet he was still worried about the progress needed to meet the one-month deadline.

Thus, he hoped Ye Xinghe could prepare for both possibilities.

Ye Xinghe nodded, as though he was not surprised.

"I completed eight batches and forged eight First-Order Grade-Low Dharma Artifacts!" Ye Jingli slowly spoke as well.

Ye Xinghe continued nodding and looked toward Ye Jingcheng. At that moment, Ye Jingli and Ye Jingyun were also looking at Ye Jingcheng, wanting to know whether Beast Fire could truly refine spirit pills.

"Reporting to Eldest Uncle, I refined eighty Qi Blood Pills!" Ye Jingcheng replied. He had not underreported the number.

For one, Qi Blood Pills meant Contribution Points and Spirit Stones. For another, the clan was facing a crisis. If he concealed his abilities and delayed matters of importance to the Ye Family, his own future would not end well either.

Having grown up in the Ye Family, he still possessed a deep sense of belonging toward it.

"Good!" Ye Xinghe exclaimed excitedly.

After examining the pills Ye Jingcheng handed over three times and confirming that there were no inferior pills mixed in to pad the numbers, he gave Ye Jingcheng a thumbs-up in praise.

"Also, I will relay your method to the clan and have them look into Beast Fire. Perhaps the clan will have more Alchemists who do not need to rely on Earth Fire Rooms!"

"If it proves viable for widespread use, the clan will reward you with even more Contribution Points!" Ye Xinghe added.

Then Ye Xingyu beside him gave his report as well. Over these ten days, he had forged a total of nine First-Order Grade-Middle Dharma Artifacts! This also left Ye Xinghe immensely satisfied. As expected of someone who had an Earth Fire Room all to himself, along with a supply of Qi Return Pills and the Ye Family's other resources.

At this rate, together with what he had secretly acquired from elsewhere, he no longer had to fear failing that agreement.

Next, Ye Xinghe once again assigned tasks and distributed materials to the four of them.

Ye Jingcheng was delighted to discover that the Ancient Book Pill Formula Spirit Herbs he had asked the clan to find were among them.

Once the workload eased in a few days, he could search for more himself. Of course, the Four Flavors Main Medicine posed a problem.

The clan did not have them, so he could only find an opportunity to try his luck at other shops in the market.

According to what his Thirteenth Aunt had said, he might have to wait for the Taihang Market Annual Auction.

"You needn't keep yourselves wound so tightly. Jingyun, Jingcheng, Jingli especially—you may take a walk around the market and relax a little!" As they were leaving, Ye Xinghe seemed to notice the three men's exhaustion and offered the suggestion. After all, having come to the market, the four of them had spent all ten days refining.

"But only for half a day, and you cannot let others think we are idle. It would be best to look a little anxious. While you are at it, purchase some Qi Blood Pills or First-Order Dharma Artifacts. The clan will reimburse the Spirit Stones afterward!" Ye Xinghe added.